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ObesitySurvey

World obesity data · updated 2 October 2026

The world’s weight, in plain numbers.

About 1 in 6 adults on Earth live with obesity. Explore every country’s numbers since 1980 — sourced from the World Health Organization and explained simply.

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Adults living with obesity, world, 2024

16.4%

Roughly 944 million people. In 1980 it was 5.0%, or about 130 million.

Rate: WHO Global Health Observatory. People: WHO rate × UN population estimate. How we calculate

Four numbers to know

45%

of adults are overweight or live with obesity (2024)

8.2%

of children and teens (5–19) live with obesity — up from 1.1% in 1980

6.7%

of adults are underweight (2024) — the other side of malnutrition

34.4%

of adults in the Americas, the WHO region with the highest rate (2024)

Source: WHO Global Health Observatory. Adults are 18+.

Where

Adult obesity, country by country

Darker blue means a larger share of adults living with obesity. Switch to the 3D globe, or select any country for its full story.
  • under 5%
  • 5–10%
  • 10–20%
  • 20–30%
  • 30–40%
  • 40% or more
  • no estimate

Of WHO’s six world regions, the Americas has the highest share of adults with obesity (34.4%) and South-East Asia the lowest (8.3%).

Adults (18+) living with obesity (BMI 30 or more), age-standardized. Some small countries are too small to see on the map — every country is listed on the countries page.

Source: WHO Global Health Observatory.

Watch it change since 1980Find your country

When

How we got here

World: adults and children with obesity, 1980–2024

What this means: Adults went from 5.0% to 16.4%. Children and teens went from 1.1% to 8.2% — a smaller share, but it grew about 7 times over.

0%5%10%15%20%19801990200020102020Adults 18+ 16.4%Ages 5–19 8.2%
  • Adults 18+
  • Ages 5–19

Shaded bands show WHO’s 95% uncertainty range.

Source: WHO Global Health Observatory.

If the world were 100 adults

Based on WHO estimates for 2024.

  • 7 underweight (BMI under 18.5) (6.7%)
  • 48 in the healthy weight range (48.1%)
  • 29 overweight (BMI 25 to 30) (28.8%)
  • 16 living with obesity (BMI 30+) (16.4%)

Source: WHO Global Health Observatory.

Regions

Six regions, six stories

The Americas has the highest share of adults with obesity; South-East Asia the lowest.

All regions and income groups
  1. The Americas34.4%
  2. The Eastern Mediterranean28.8%
  3. Europe20.9%
  4. Africa12.7%
  5. The Western Pacific9.7%
  6. South-East Asia8.3%

Adults with obesity, 2024, age-standardized.

Source: WHO Global Health Observatory.

Straight from the experts

What health organisations say

2.5 billion

adults were overweight in 2022, and 890 million of them were living with obesity.

Summary of: World Health Organization, Obesity and overweight (fact sheet) (published ; checked )

160 million

children and teens aged 5–19 were living with obesity in 2022, up from 31 million in 1990.

Summary of: World Health Organization, Obesity and overweight (fact sheet) (published ; checked )

3.7 million

deaths from noncommunicable diseases in 2021 were caused by higher-than-optimal BMI, WHO estimates.

Summary of: World Health Organization, Obesity and overweight (fact sheet) (published ; checked )

US$3 trillion

a year — the predicted global cost of overweight and obesity by 2030, rising to more than US$18 trillion by 2060.

Summary of: World Health Organization, Obesity and overweight (fact sheet) (published ; checked )

Explore

Learn, compare, play

Your countryRank, trend, men vs women, kids — for 200 countries.Head-to-headPut any two countries side by side.Higher or lower?A quick game with real WHO numbers.The US storyMeasured since 1960, plus every state.Food & lifestyleCalories, activity and what changed.What is BMI?The measuring stick, explained — with a calculator.

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